Legislator seeks partial smoking ban in Conn. casinos

Tuesday

Gamblers headed to Connecticut's casinos may need to leave their cigarettes and cigars at home if a bill introduced last week in the state legislature becomes law.

Gamblers headed to Connecticut's casinos may need to leave their cigarettes and cigars at home if a bill introduced last week in the state legislature becomes law.

Senate Bill 419 seeks to ban smoking in all areas of Connecticut's casinos covered by state liquor permits.

"I've always been concerned with the issue of smoking and, particularly, smoking in the workplace," state Sen. Mary Ann Handley, D-Manchester, chairwoman of the Public Health Committee and chief deputy majority leader, said. "We have an opinion from the attorney general that the sovereignty issue does not affect this because the restaurants and bars operate under liquor licenses from the state of Connecticut."

Sovereignty issue

Mohegan Sun representatives were unavailable for comment Monday night. A spokesman for the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino, said the bill addresses an issue where honest people would have differences of opinion as to the proper thing to do.

"I think the legislature would be getting into territory where there are serious questions about jurisdiction," he said.

Handley said, if passed, the law would cover restaurants and bars serving alcohol but was unsure whether the smoking ban would also extend to alcoholic beverage service at slot machines and table games.

"Does the non-smoking carry along with the drink?" she said. "I don't know. Those are issues we'll clearly have to investigate."

Even as a smoker herself, Mary Johnson, a 14-year table game dealer at Foxwoods, said she'd love to see lighting up banned in the casino.

"It's worked very well in poker," she said, "and poker's been smoke-free since they opened the new room down there."

Johnson, who was active in the drive to organize Foxwoods dealers with the United Auto Workers, said the union has the resources and clout to push such a bill. She said she loves walking up to deal at a table where the players already have agreed to keep the game smoke free.

"It's a serious issue," Johnson said of second-hand smoke and wondered if a ban wouldn't inspire her to kick the habit. "Maybe I can quit then, too."